Tony Stewart captured his second consecutive victory and closed to within 3 points of Carl Edwards with just 2 races remaining in the 2011 season. Jeff Gordon finished 6th after battling a loose handling condition when the sun went down. Gordon started 23rd and steadily marched forward. He moved into the top-15 by lap 80 and entered the top-5 in the second half of the race. He ran as high as third before handling issues surfaced on the longer run. Nevertheless, the 6th place finish is Gordon’s best effort at Texas since winning at the track in April 2009 — a span of 5 races.

Road Ahead: The penultimate race of the 2011 season takes the Cup series to the reconfigured one-mile oval in Phoenix. JG scored the victory in Phoenix in February, prior to the reconfiguration which added banking and a different angle on the backstretch.